The Dark Master
Kuro Tanino (Japan)
Date
Jun 17, 2021
6:30 PM
Psychiatrist-turned-director/playwright Kuro Tanino creates an unconventional presentation of his “part fable, part dream play” The Dark Master.
Inspired by an indie manga, this immersive and humorously dark experimental theater piece utilizes Virtual Reality (VR) headsets to transform the viewer into the play’s protagonist, an unassuming patron of a traditional Japanese diner. Performed by Tanino’s experimental theater company Niwa Gekidan Penino, the story depicts the strange, symbiotic relationship that develops between the guest and the restaurant’s owner-chef simply called “The Master.” Borrowing the dramaturgy of first-person video games, the viewer experiences first-hand how the Master’s all-consuming persona highjacks the identity of his victims in a novel production that collapses the border between reality and illusion.
“A feast for the senses: The Dark Master is part fable, part dream play, part David Lynch surrealism.” — The Australian
“A one-man psychological trip into the underbelly of our desires.” — Tokyo Stages
Tanino, who received his MD from Show University Medical School and practiced psychiatry for several years, has established a reputation for creating unique theater works that depict hidden human emotions through a surrealistic story using cynical humor. He first made The Dark Master in 2003; however, in 2016, he completely changed the set design and ending of the story.
Since then he has developed a few different versions, with an ambition to make each version distinct by incorporating issues unique to the presenting cities and regions. In this new adaptation born out of the global pandemic, Tanino presents an unconventional performance using (VR) headsets for a limited audience of 10 people. Like the protagonist in the original play, each audience member is provided with a pair of headphones to listen to the Master’s every command. Plastic “magic mirrors” also separate audience members from one another as they sit along a counter or long table, mimicking the counter in the diner. The sensory isolation of the headset allows the audience to slip into the play’s uneasy Orwellian atmosphere.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kuro Tanino
Born in Toyama Prefecture in 1976, Tanino founded Niwa Gekidan Penino (Theatre the Garden Penino) in 2000 with members of the Showa University drama club while he was studying in the medical school. Both his parents are doctors, and he is also a licensed psychiatrist, although he no longer practices. He is the representative, playwright, and director of Niwa Gekidan Penino, whose theatrical works grow out of his imaginings and obsessions and are staged in spaces carefully designed to the finest detail. He is also a sculptor and painter and is highly involved in the stage designs of each production. Tanino’s plays have been nominated as finalists for the Kishida Drama Award and performed in theaters and festivals around the globe. For other companies, he has directed Ibsen’s Vildanden, Chekhov!?, a commission he wrote for the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Chekhov’s birth in 2011, among other plays.
“Kuro Tanino is a multi-faceted artist who plays with humor, flirts with surrealism and explores the deepest abysses of the human psyche.” — Le Monde
CREDITS
The North American tour of The Dark Master is produced and organized by Japan Society, New York, NY, and supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan through the Japan Arts Council, and Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture). The Virtual Reality (VR) production of The Dark Master premiered at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre as part of Tokyo Festival 2020.
